Yes Riverside or San Bernardino County for $100k house $1,200 in rent. Also Lancaster/Palmdale for those numbers or better. I know of a lot of long term pros in Riverside & SB County in the buy & hold rental business and those are the numbers they have been getting. Not sure if they still are now. I personally don’t really want to buy up there though b/c it is too far.
91910 is a C+/B- neighborhood IMO, I don’t know all of it, maybe parts of it are B if you were generous. “A” neighborhoods are places like Carmel Valley, Encinitas, Rancho Bernardo, La Jolla, Point Loma, Del Mar, etc… “B” neighborhoods are San Carlos, Clairemont, Mira Mesa, etc.. “C” neighborhoods (and below.. and there is a wide variance from C- to C+) are places like El Cajon, Lemon Grove, Spring Valley, Vista, most of O-side, Escondido). Of course there are parts of places like El Cajon, etc.. in the hiils that are more “B”.
Bearishgirl has never owned a condo but seems to know they all have special assessments and plumbing problems:) I have looked at, talked to and reviewed hoas of dozens and dozens recently and many have not not had special assessments in decades or had very minor ones. But I’m sure there are some bad ones out there. And it is not like you never have your own little “special assessment” on a SFR when the roof leaks or something else breaks. SFR’s are definitely preferable over condos when all else is equal, but all else is not equal in SD County. But I think if you can find the right SFR that works and you have all the cash to put down and fix it, you should definatly go for it over a condo.
Just curious for other experienced investors who are IN the market right now chime in what they think of a $265k 91910 house as a excellent buy and hold investment? Kingside? Ren? Sdrealtor?
I DO think 91910 is a strong rental area, I just think the prices are a bit high for a decent ROI. I don’t know what is on the market right now, but it might be a stretch to get a 3/2/2 1500+ sf SFR on a +/- 7500 sf lot for $265k right now in a good area on nice street that would pull $1,850. I would have to check Craigslist too to see what types of properties are renting for $1,850 and if they are the types of properties that could be had for $265k.
Contacting owners direct of vacant properties is a “needle in the haystack” type of strategy and takes a ton of time and effort, using things like direct mail, and you may or may not find something after spending a ton of time most people don’t have. But if you have all that time and could get it to work it would be good. Bearishgirl have you ever bought a property that way? It’s something talked a lot by the “gurus” in books but I don’t meet many non-full time professional buyers that have ever done it. And most of those owners still know what their property is worth and won’t let it go for 20% under it’s current appraised value.
And bearishgirl you need to write a book about how you fix these major fixers for less than $5,000:) Apparently all the landlords and investors out there (many contractors themselves) have to spend at least $15k min to fix up most fixer upper SFR rentals they buy right now to make them rent ready. Go visit a few dozen fixers with a yellow pad and cost it out, they have a lot of stuff wrong with them. And it all adds up. But who knows maybe you could do it with all your experience and doing everything yourself, but not many people can. I’m curious investors out there, how much do you usually spend to fix up a fixer upper SFR you turn into a rental? The people that I have talked to $15k-$25k. We’re talking fixers here. And most professionals buying rentals don’t have the time, or their time is worth a lot more per hour, than to learn to do things like lay tile or carpet themselves:) But yeah if you know how to do that stuff or like it, you can save a little money.